Hollow baseball bats made of aluminum, plastic and other suitable materials have been gaining in popularity. Such bats, however, are more susceptible to damage than solid bats, such as wooden bats since in order to maintain the same balance and weight as conventional bats they have been constructed with relatively thin wall sections, of the order of less than 1/8 inch. Attempts to overcome this difficulty have been made by placing a solid plug of metal, solid rubber, rigid plastic foam or similar material at the striking end of the bat or filling the bat with a gas under high pressure.
In my co-pending patent application entitled Baseball Bat Ser. No. 392,386, filed June 28, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,687, there is disclosed a baseball or softball bat of somewhat triangular cross section at its ball striking portion having a ball hitting surface of larger curvature than conventional bats. The large unsupported curved hitting surface of such a bat in its hollow metal embodiment presents an added opportunity for denting and metal fatigue.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide structural improvements in hollow baseball bats and particularly bats having a somewhat trangular cross sectional shape at their hitting portion to prevent denting and metal fatigue.
Another object of the present invention is to improve the structural strength of hollow metal baseball bats without changing their acceptable weight and balance.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a bat of structural strength which is readily fabricated of metal, without recourse to dissimilar materials.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a strengthened hollow metal bat of unitary construction.